Twitter pt 2

In my previous post I discussed twitter accounts encouraging women to be thin. However, twitter targets not only women's weight, but also their life styles. Particular accounts like @ToMyFutureHusband and @TrophyTrainee promote dependency on men. Tweets such as, "#ToMyFutureHusband I can't wait to be all yours <3" advocate for a woman to "submit, right or wrong, to power" (51). Mary Wollstonecraft, in  A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, identifies the troubles that emanate from this situation. "...If woman be educated for dependence...where are we to stop?" she says (51). 


TrophyTrainee tweets, "When people tell me to make them a sandwich I'm instantly offended. Why settler for a sandwich when I can make a million better things?" People then tweet at TrophyTrainee with photos of baked goods and descriptions reading "I'm going to make a great wife!" This assumes that the prerequisite for a healthy relationship depends on the quality of food one is able to produce for their partner (typically a woman for a man). Wollstonecraft acknowledges the ignorance of this statement when she writes, "...Being only taught to please must still find her happiness in pleasing; what an example of folly" (52).


I consistently see girls at our school retweeting these quotes because they think it makes them seem appealing to men. Sadly, as early as the 1800's, the "cult of domesticity" has deemed the home as a female's sphere. Images from the mid 20th century portray women in the kitchen. Men then consider "homemaker" to be a redeeming and attractive quality in females. 

As mentioned in The Beauty Myth, domestic housework goes generally unnoticed without pay. If women do not have a salary earning career outside the home, they become completely reliant on their husbands for income. Wollstonecraft considers the problems that arise when a woman is widowed (or more contemporary: divorced). 

She hypothesises the scenario of a woman post loss saying, "She has never thought, much less acted for herself. She has only learned to please men, to depend gracefully on them; yet, encumbered with children, how is she to obtain another protector?" (52).

Our family friends recently got divorced. The father provided the primary source of income and as a result, the mother had a more difficult time the the divorce. Emotionally, she was ready to detach from him after he cheated on her, but financially she was dependent on him. Whether she wants to or not, she has to maintain a civil relationship with him in order to send her children to college.

As a female, being dependent on a man is not an ideal situation. Wollstonecraft stresses, "Man and woman were made for each other, though not to become one being" (109). People need to be able to make choices for themselves and think for themselves; both of which are impossible if you are dependent on someone else.


http://fiveaspects.com/blog/whats-in-a-name/